The judgment on socialism’s architecture and urban design has undergone a large change since the political turn of the years 1989-1991. This is especially true for the industrially built housing estates of the complex housing program, which were once privileged residential areas, but which now have a reputation as “ghettos”. This paper is meant to contribute to the correction of this perception and to the improvement of the public image of “Plattenbau” housing estates. In order to achieve this, research was done in the East German housing estate Strausberg-Hegermühle to find factors which promote positive identification of residents with their neighbourhood. The paper aims at giving suggestions for the work of locally committed citizens, community politicians, residential housing companies and local administrations. The housing estate “Hegermühle” in the medium-sized Brandenburg town Strausberg was built in the 1980s. Until 1990, Hegermühle’s population was dominated by employees of the German Democratic Republic’s Ministry of NationaThe judgment on socialism’s architecture and urban design has undergone a large change since the political turn of the years 1989-1991. This is especially true for the industrially built housing estates of the complex housing program, which were once privileged residential areas, but which now have a reputation as “ghettos”. This paper is meant to contribute to the correction of this perception and to the improvement of the public image of “Plattenbau” housing estates. In order to achieve this, research was done in the East German housing estate Strausberg-Hegermühle to find factors which promote positive identification of residents with their neighbourhood. The paper aims at giving suggestions for the work of locally committed citizens, community politicians, residential housing companies and local administrations. The housing estate “Hegermühle” in the medium-sized Brandenburg town Strausberg was built in the 1980s. Until 1990, Hegermühle’s population was dominated by employees of the German Democratic Republic’s Ministry of National Defence. Apartments in the neighbourhood were sought after because of their high technical standard. After the GDR’s demise, the neighbourhood’s social structure changed profoundly. Today, its public image is located between the extremes “boring dormitory town” and “deprived area”. In the second half of 2009, a qualitative enquiry was conducted in this housing estate. Apart from field explorations, which were documented in text and image, a number of interviews was conducted with persons who were living or had formerly been living in Hegermühle. Interviewees were selected according to the method of theoretical sampling (Glaser/Strauss) with the goal of achieving a high differentiation of the sample in terms of age, descent, gender and profession. The interviews were conducted according to Witzel’s method of problem-centered interviews, and they were interpreted on the basis of Glaser’s & Strauss’ grounded theory concept. For this paper, eight interviews were selected, in which the interviewees speak about the following topics: the circumstances of their moving to Hegermühle, the neighbourhood’s development since then, the public image of Hegermühle, their own relationship with the neighbourhood and the housing estate’s future perspective. The results of the conducted research show that the largest obstacle for positive identification with the housing estate is its problematic social structure, which is highly dominated by unemployment and social disintegration. Apart from that, the housing estate is mostly judged by pragmatic criteria. The good infrastructure of Hegermühle, which includes facilities for shopping, child care and recreation, was emphasized by all interviewees. These factors though can be found in the same form in other places. Thus they are not able to serve as a base for identification with any specific place. That is why it was remarked by the interviewees that Hegermühle lacked distinguishing features which separate it from other neighbourhoods. In contrast, those interviewees who had personally witnessed the creation of Hegermühle in the 1980s showed the highest level of local identity. Because of this, the paper ends with reflections on how this experience of a local history of significance to one’s own biography can be shared by other residents. Two possible concepts are proposed: a) exploration and presentation of the housing estate’s history, and b) creation and preservation of spatial points of identification, which make the local history, landscape and other distinguishing features of the neighbourhood perceivable in everyday life. Public works of art or commemorative plaques for example could serve as links for a local identity and could strengthen a feeling of personal connection with the place of living. This could promote a local connection independent from pragmatic factors and increase the residents’ willingness to get involved in the improvement of their housing estate.…